Sydney

After a brief stint as a student, I am glad to say I have finally found a few moments to blog about what I have been up to.



The most exciting thing I have done in the past few weeks, by far, is go and join in in the Mardi Gras festivities in Sydney, Australia. This was not my first trip to Sydney but I must admit it was certianly my most memorable. Other than needing to feed my unyielding desire to travel and to go to a real city, the wonderful things the locals had to say about this Mardi Gras parade was enough for me and my partner in crime, Emma, to book a ticket on tuesday for the following saturday.

I have only ever been to one other gay parade (San Francisco, naturally) but I have to admit, that parade did not even come close. The massive amounts of people that came to see the floats (and riskily clad Australians) I can only imagine is what New York is like during the Thanksgiving day parade. I am not sure I have ever seen so many people in one place, in fact. It was a lovely change from the sweet and quant, but sometimes too quant, town of Townsville.

I am not sure where to even begin to describe the variety of things I saw, but luckily, a picture is worth a thousand words:

enough said, no?

After the parade,naturally, it was time to hit the pubs. After walking around a bit and deciding where to spend our Mardi Gras after party, we decided the World Bar looked like a young and happening place. And indeed, it was. Three stories high, with a dj playing different music on each level left my thirst for curiosity unquenched. Once one floor began to die out, we merely moved up one set of stairs. It was terribly covenient. And also, they served their drinks out of fabulous little teapots.

priceless.

The jovial atmosphere of the parade, and incredible amounts of people failed to wane even when I and some American mates were making our way back to the dorms in the wee hours of the morning. I am not sure how the Austrialians do it.

After some much needed sleep, our crew began to gain conciousness at the ripe hour of one in the afternoon. Not wanting to waste too much of our precious time in Sydney sleeping, we headed for a quick brunch, a little stroll around Darling harbor, and then... the Opera House! This was a big, "Oh ya, I'm in Ausralia" moment. There are few things more reperesntative of the Australian continet, other than koalas and kangaroos, than the Opera House. As an American, one is bombarded with images of the Opera House, but to see it in real life, in all of it's white and curved glory, is a whole other experience.

So yes, it was an amazing day.

Sadly, as all good things must come to an end, it was time to catch a flight back to Townsville early the next day. While I was a little sad to leave the comforts of a big city like things open past 4 in the afternoon, or a starbucks, I did find a little flame of excitment burred inside me as our plane landed back in Townsville and to my suprise thought to myself "It's nice to be home." Of course, about an hour later, I was planning my easter holiday.

Paradise

This week marks the end of the longest winter break I have ever had, and possibly the least productive extended period of my life… thus far. It has been approximately 2 months and 1 week of nomadic glory, while many of my fellow American mates have been in school for over a month now. While I am a little excited about returning to a normal schedule and making some sort of sense out of my life, I did very much enjoy being a rolling stone, a leaf in the wind etc.

I did however go on one last glorious trip and am very glad to report back that paradise is only a thirty minute ferry ride away from Uni (James Cook). I am not sure if it was the laid-back island lifestyle, the eclectic group of nine ambitious students searching for one last hoor-ah, or the fact that we lived out of a car for three days, but this trip was truly perfect.

The first person I must mention is Jared. He was not only the coordinator and chauffer of this trip, but also the life and the energy. There are few people I have met in my life thus far that could take seven Americans and one Canadian camping, hiking, swimming, drinking, and touring with boundless energy whilst wearing a swanky Colombian hat. I am also a little suspicious that he does not own any shoes, not even one. He is, without a doubt, a true tropical Queensland Aussie.

After a slow start Friday morning, Jared rallied our group and we eventually made it to the island and found the perfect beach to sleep on….

I must admit, I thought sleeping on the beach sounded like a good time….but as darkness came, and the nocturnal tropical animals began to rise, I was just about ready to check into a hostel. However, we were about 2.5 km from any type of civilization so I had to put such thoughts to rest and fall asleep… only to wake up to a huge bite on my ass. Typical Americans, thinking they can brave the bush. Since I was still alive, and thus whatever had bitten me must not have been poisonous, I hardened up (which became the motto for the weekend) and began one of the grungiest and most spontaneous weekends of my life.

The day fell into a routine of swimming…

And hiking…..

And then we found a Koala!

This was by far the highlight of the trip for me.

As evening two rolled around, I was silently becoming more and more concerned about sleeping out in the wild again. Thankfully, nature heard my call, and a cyclone-type rain storm began. This meant it was every man or woman for themselves in terms of a sleeping arrangement. A few people from our group made some friends with extra beds in their rooms at the hostel, I and a few other people slept in the car, and two people slept in a tent. I personally have never seen rainstorms like these anywhere in the world, and I am not sure there is enough money in Australia to get me to sleep outside during one.

When we rounded up the troops in the morning, the two brave (foolish) young men who slept outside were absolutely soaking, along with all of their belongings. If someone had thrown them and their belongings into a pool, I would not have known the difference. They later told us of how they cut water bottles in half and scooped water out of the tent. Americans.

We collectively decided it was it time to return back to Townsville once again, perhaps, however, a little tougher and just maybe a bit more Aussie.

Week One

Seeing as I miss you all terribly and perhaps you all want to know what I am up to, I have chosen to create a blog to keep you updated on the adventures I am partaking in and to record my journey. I am not really sure how often I will be doing these, but it will be much easier than writing a ton of facebook messages.

I have never been one to have a problem falling asleep (actually quite the contrary as most of you know) but for some reason I chose to take some Tylenol PM on the plane with the intention of waking up in Australia refreshed and ready to hit the outback. They should, however, call it Tylenol coma. I popped a couple of them fifteen minutes into the flight and could not find the strength to emerge myself from my trance-like sleep to eat my two complimentary meals. My fellow seat mates seemed a little unsure of this unconscious person who may or may not be alive but were gracious enough to snag me a couple cookies which I ate as I finished up a movie and landed in Brisbane.

Upon landing in Brisbane, two hours late mind you, about one hundred American students had to go through customs, collect their roughly 150 pounds of baggage, run 2 kilometers to the domestic terminal, and then go through security again to re-check the bags.... in ninety degree heat with 80% humidity, in order to catch flight number two. Mind you Qantas was holding the plane for us at a cost of 300$ per minute, seeing as 2/3 of the plane were not present at the estimated time of departure. Needless to say, the pressure was on.

Eventually we made it to Cairns where I was lodged at a backpackers hostile and treated to a very touristy couple of days.

kangaroo feeding:

snorkeling the great barrier reef :

and my personal favorite, learning about the native aboriginals...white collar, blue collar, loin cloth...I mean really though, who doesn't have a gardener these days?

Finally, it was time to join reality again and travel south to Townsville, QLD and move into my college (dorm) and start orientation week. After a four hour bus ride in eighty degree heat with no air conditioner I was brought to my humble abode for the next six months:

I live on a floor with seven people, however I have only met three. There is Judith, from Norway, who lives across from me and is very traditionaly Norweigan. Tenille, from Australia, who is certainly much older than I am and not quite sure what to make of her 20 year old American neighbor. And finally, my personal favorite, Peter. He is from some island two hours south of Australia which I cannot pronounce let alone spell. He is a true islander, with the hardest exterior and softest personality I have ever met. I love him.

Seeing as this is my first year at James Cook University, I am technically a "fresher" again. This means I have to wear a stupid hat all week and if I am caught without this hat, I have to do ten push ups.

One last thing I have to mention, I live in the Jungle. Not a day goes by that I do not see wild animals roaming in the rainforest's around me. I have seen packs of kangaroo, yes, packs, as in more than one. There are countless frogs, bugs, lizards, kangaroo rats, birds and tonight I saw a turtle on my way home from the dining hall cruising down the main street of campus. I have also been warned about the many snakes in the area that like to go inside the colleges and take refuge from the rain, which has forced me to start a routine of checking all corners of the bathroom every time I take a shower.

This video explains it much better than I can: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmRexWQhs3M